with David Blaska

June 2014

06/30/14

It’s called “walking back the story.” When yesterday’s news story is conclusively rebutted, the too-clever journalist acknowledges the error without admitting his mistake. In the wake of last week’s John Doe II “document dump” the news media seized on one phrase, “criminal scheme,” ignoring that two judges in separate rulings overruled what was never more than a prosecutorial “theory.”

06/26/14

You may have noticed that there were no local editorials in this morning’s Wisconsin State Journal. There is a reason and it should frighten all those who hold their liberties sacred. Early this morning, just before daybreak, armed sheriff’s deputies executed a search warrant at 1901 Fish Hatchery Road, Madison. That is the headquarters of Capital Newspapers, Inc. Among its string of daily newspapers, the corporation publishes the Wisconsin State Journal and The Capital Times.

06/24/14

C’mon Schmitz, Chisholm, and Landgraf. On Robels! On Nickel! (On Dasher, Prancer, Vixen, and Comet!) To the top of the porch! Pound on the door! Arm the deputies. Shine the floodlights! Wake the neighbors! Make the children cry! Seize the hard drives and the cell phones! Jail random citizens without bringing charges! Ruin their reputations! Free speech is afoot!

06/19/14

The courts released 266 pages of documents this afternoon relating to the partisan vendetta against Gov. Scott Walker and conservative free speech. The headline takeaway is this: It was a partisan witch hunt. Documents released today compare the 2010-12 campaign coordination between the likes of Kathleen Falk, Tom Barrett, United Wisconsin, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, and President Barack Obama himself.

06/19/14

Paul Fanlund is slapping his forehead. Why didn’t I think of that?! Why didn’t I play the race card on Scott Walker? Mr. Fanlund is editor of the corporation that speaks as if it were a person, if that person were a non-reported, in-kind contributor to the Our Ms. Burke for Governor campaign. Paul is energized by the New Republic magazine cover story this week, “The unelectable whiteness of Scott Walker — a journey through the poisonous, racially divided world that produced a Republican star.”

06/17/14

Blaska — taxpayer, patriot, and citizen — has been branded “Inappropriate.” That is the social network website term for “Apologize, you politically incorrect, conservative knuckle-dragger.” For, you see, the Squire of the Stately Manor finds himself surrounded by the enlightened sensibilities of the Emerald City, where crime is a socio-economic problem that requires panel discussions and weekend seminars, not prevention, apprehension, and punishment.

06/16/14

A New Republic magazine article just out, “The unelectable [a take on ineluctable] whiteness of Scott Walker,” presumes to take the reader on “a journey through the poisonous, racially divided world that produced a Republican star.”

06/11/14

There is good news in Madison today. Kaleem Caire will announce sometime within the next two weeks his new challenge, that being with a childhood development organization in (even better news) Madison. His organization is called One City Early Learning Centers.

06/09/14

The NY Times on Sunday reported that, upon his death, the life’s work of one Alexander Shulgin was to research psychedelia “capable of rejiggering the quotidian functions of the mind.” Rejigger your quotidian functions with a daily dose of Blaska’s Bring It! Guaranteed fast-acting and safe when used as directed.

06/05/14

Not quite amnesty, acid, and abortion — but close. Democrats at their annual state convention are being encouraged to legalize marijuana but to say no to the First and Second Amendments this weekend in Wisconsin Dells.

06/02/14

Successful businesses determine what works and what doesn’t; they quit doing the “what doesn’t.” What if government did the same thing? Imagine our political leaders saying something’s not working in Milwaukee’s public schools. That’s what Tommy Thompson did, to the enduring enmity of the teachers union and its political party — both champions of the status quo.

About This Blog

Raised on a farm near Sun Prairie, David Blaska is a recovering liberal who spent 18 years in daily newspapers, including 12 at The Capital Times in Madison as a reporter and editor. He served Gov. Tommy Thompson as acting press secretary in 1998 and is a veteran and survivor of 19 years in state government. He served 12 years on the Dane County Board of Supervisors. From December 2007 to November 2011 he wrote the consistently popular "Blaska's Blog" for Isthmus online's "The Daily Page" until, he says, the intolerant liberals ran him off. He blogs from Madison.